Public Comment

I seem to recall reading a Readers Digest article many years ago which lauded Castro for ousting the brutal US puppet dictator, Batista, with his rag-tag army.

Following his revolution, to the profound disappointment of his people, Castro reneged on his promise to transform Cuba into a functioning democracy and open government brutally oppressing his opponents to usher in his Marxist ideology. He muzzled the press and transformed state run television into a turgid propaganda machine much like regimes that we support with our tax dollars (Egypt, Pakistan, Bahrain. . ) . But don’t we seem to be very selective in our outrage of Castro continuing to coddle China, Saudi Arabia and other ‘basket of deplorable head chopping’ Middle East regimes who are also guilty of horrific human rights abuses? When challenged by this contradiction, President Clinton explained that trade with China was an effort of ‘constructive engagement’. Translation – we need their open markets to enrich US corporations.

To his credit, Castro ushered in a Bernie Sanders dream, free education, medical care and a host of other social benefits. Castro’s revolution also encouraged other nations to overthrow their oppressive US backed dictators, from Chile of Salvador Allende to the Nicaragua of the Sandinista revolution in 1979, Argentina 1976 to Brazil’s in 1964. The ‘School of the America’s provided much of the training for these brutal dictators.

Our short-sighted colonial polices were pivotal in driving Castro to the Soviet camp.